To be successful leaders in the new world of ever more emerging EXO’s (exponential organisations http://exponentialorgs.com/) such as Uber, Airbnb, Google, Amazon etc., it is time to take off our corporate masks and start to speak a different language.

To become real.

To be human foremost.

To come alive.

To shift our language from a data, facts and logic driven idiom to an emphatic, emotional driven language that touches people at their core level.

A tongue that creates deep felt meaning and connection.

Fuels people to levels of performance not thought possible.

To give them wings by touching them deep in their being.

The Dilemma we face

Leaders are driven further and further to get more and more out of their people; to drive them to even higher performance and create more shareholder value (money) each quarter. Leaders today are expected to accelerate growth in their organisations on seemingly unhuman levels.

At the same time cost cutting is the reality. Leaving them with less and less room to maneuver and very little resources for growth. It is a pointless rat race that cannot be won. To make it even worse, the shareholders see those other organizations (EXO’s) who accelerated seemingly out of nowhere to great heights and now expect the same performance from their own investments into long standing corporations.

So what is going on here? How can it be that those new emerging EXO’s started with barely anything, out from a garage, and experienced accelerated growth in an exponential manner; becoming the LinkedIns, Facebooks, Airbnb’s etc. we see today? They did not have the resources or money large corporations have.

But somehow, magically they are in existence, against all odds. On the other side, large corporations, even though they have massive resources at their fingertips cannot make the jump to become an EXO.

What is it, those new emerging EXO’s have, that traditional, linear growing organisations do not have? What are those magic ingredients?

Purpose and Meaning

People in EXO’s are deeply driven by the need to create something big.
They have meaning in their lives, or better: their work is not just an 8 to 5 job – it is their life.
These EXO’s have people, who can dream and hold a vision of a very bright future; who work relentlessly to make their dream a reality.

In short, they have an MTP: A Massive Transformative Purpose.

They want to change the world on a grand scale. Their livelihood literally depends on it. They are fueled by their being and the need for self-actualization. These people have passion for what they do and who they are. And when they talk about their work, you can see their whole being light up.

Their eyes shine bright and you feel them to be alive, full of passion – you can sense the love they have for their work. You do not have to tell these people, how to do their work or that they have to do the work. They do it because it has become them. They completely identify themselves with what they do. As it is in line with who they are in their core; aligned with their purpose and vision.

They have grown wings, which lift them over seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

Passion – the language infecting others to collaborate

These people have the capability to connect to others and move them into their spell.

The language they use to create these connections is not: “If you join me you will earn X amount”. They use the language of the heart fueled with their passion. They touch others on their core level.

Like this, they create meaning in the lives of others, they give them direction. Therefore, people want to join and also become a part of something much greater than themselves. They create communities of mutual aid, understanding and openly sharing. Where seemingly random people come together and work in collaboration to make a bigger dream become reality.

What connects the people in the first place, is not facts and data, but a deeply felt, shared purpose; a purpose to make this world a better place for everyone.

By using a new service, invention or technology which has become attainable for the huge masses, these people want to create something new, that will lift humanity onto a next level.

Shift and start to grow exponentially or die

In this new world of EXO’s, companies/communities which accelerate exponentially there is no room for the old style/ industrial age/ hierarchical master–worker control system leadership method. A method, which only speaks the language of quarterly financial driven results with cold facts and figures.

On the contrary – this old management model is limiting and will eventually stop growth.

An EXO will inevitably come along over night and wipe out those traditional corporations. Examples: Nokia, Kodak and the like.

The new “Human core, Heart driven” Leader

We need a new type of leader for this new emerging, ever faster growing EXO world we are in now, if we want to succeed and catapult our organisations into the next decade.

We need leaders, who have the ability to connect to others on a meaningful deeply heartfelt level; Leaders, which see their role not in being the “Big Boss”, fueled by their own ego and personal agenda, fear and the need to control others, but who are humble and servant to their teams.

We need leaders, who understand and have empathy towards the core drivers of human beings.

Leaders, who understand that we have entered the post “food and shelter” -/ primarily money-driven stage on Maslow’s hierarchy of need, when dealing with EXO’s. Leaders, who fully embraced the world in which humans seek ever more the ability to direct their own life to fulfill their deepest need to make a difference and be a part of something bigger. Leaders, who are driven to see their people succeed, over time have them become better than themselves and who accept, that they eventually will become obsolete. These leaders feel proud for each team member, which can walk by itself without any further help.

This new Breed : A truly advanced Being

To be a leader in this new world takes a personality who is truly advanced and knows and acknowledges him-/herself.

It takes someone, who

has battled and won over his/her own demons of fear; has tremendous courage in the face of uncertainty and adversity one enters when dealing with EXO’s and the world of innovation

possesses a great deal of confidence and trust in his/her and the team’s abilities

can hold a vision even if setbacks occur and sees failure as just yet another opportunity to have learned something new.

has the ability to fuel others with his/her passion and pull them into the spell of a new and bright future for everyone